


Vat 69 and a Blue Hawaiian

by crow_coward



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Everyone's in this but I didn't wanna tag them, M/M, Slow Burn, gay bar au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25549408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crow_coward/pseuds/crow_coward
Summary: Richard Winters knew how to run a business, but he didn't know what was coming when Lewis Nixon walked into his bar that first night.
Relationships: Carwood Lipton/George Luz/Ronald Speirs, Carwood Lipton/Ronald Speirs, Lewis Nixon/Richard Winters
Kudos: 19





	Vat 69 and a Blue Hawaiian

**Author's Note:**

> This all started when Lauren got me to watch Band of Brothers with her earlier this year and we watched twice in two weeks, and then she sent me a crack tweet about Luz being a bartender and here we are. Lightly Beta'd. There is more already written but it's not completed so updating will be sporadic.

Richard Winters was a simple man. He kept his face clean shaven, his things tidy, and his body healthy. His bar, Easy Co., was an extension of that. He has only started the bar a couple of years back, fresh to Boston and looking for his new home. It didn’t take long for him to find a good staff and a handful of regular patrons.

George Luz greeted him in the entrance way; Bull not too far behind. “Evening, Sir.” Luz smiled as Winter’s tossed the keys to him. He slipped in, letting Bull fall in behind him. Winters tossed them a hint of a smile before heading back to this office. 

George Luz was one of three bartenders at Easy Co. bar, working pretty much every night unless his ma called and even then all the more reason to work. He was born to talk, many of his patrons complimenting him with a big tip and a “shut the hell up.” He was chock full of impressions, some even dating back to old 50’s cinema that no one knew the references. Some would say that George Luz was a man made for radio, with all that chattering that he does, but George decided bartending would work for now. 

Denver Randlemen, referred to by all as Bull, was Easy’s bouncer, and managed to halt most boiling pots of anger with a look. If not, he towered over many and would easily win any bare fisted fights. He was a soft man at heart but would protect himself and the loyal customers of Easy Co. without a second thought. 

Richard Winters, Dick to his close friends, Winters to most others, started Easy Co. after leaving a life less of luxury and decided he was going to make his own way in a new town where no one knew his name to build his own reputation. He earned a chuckle from Luz and the two other bartenders and every other bartender before them when he told them that he doesn’t drink, he hasn’t really ever, but he knew he wanted to open a place that would draw people together in camaraderie and share their woes and wins with each other, free of any prejudices, a landing ground for any emotional drop zone his patrons may be coming from, a refuge, which most of the time was not in him but the men he employed, that even extending to the band. 

Carwood Lipton was what Dick considered to be one of his first real regular patrons, Luz having drug him in off the streets out of the rain one October night. Lip, Luz coined the name, smiled a soft gentle smile, sitting at the bar where Luz dropped him, and waited for Luz to serve him something to warm him up, as he was told to.

“Really, I don’t need anything. If I could borrow your phone, I’ll be out your hair soon enough.” Luz popped up across the bar from Lip with a cup of coffee. 

“You are the most exciting thing that happened this week!” Luz picked up what chore he was last doing before his smoke break, which is how he found Carwood, Lip, staring at his hands under the canopy of the store front. “I should not be this excited about a man getting mugged, and as you can tell it’s packed in here.” Lip swept his head around the dark mahogany tinted bar to find only one other man in the place with them, who looked like the owner by the fact that he was on the same side of the bar as Luz and holding paperwork. “And that man is Winters, the owner, so you can sit ya ass down and enjoy the coffee, and whatever else on the house, since I’ve never seen a man so drenched and looking like a sad puppy on Christmas. Christ sake, I need a drink.” Lip watched as Luz poured himself a drink before he glanced at the man with the paperwork, Winters, and watched him chuckle at Luz being, what Lip assumed, himself. “You agree with me right, boss?” Luz asked after two fingers of bourbon.

“I’m very glad that he wasn’t hurt.” Winters put down his work and leaned against the bar. “And it’s nice to have another person in here who’s not my employees. As Luz stated, have whatever you want, I’m sure you could use a drink after the night you’ve had.” 

Lip shared a smile with the other men. He didn’t drink anything beside another cup of coffee, and at the end of the night, when Lip was slouched in his stool, robbed of his possessions, Dick lent him his spare room for the night until Lip could get in contact with his landlord. The rest is history and Lip comes at least four times a week, if work doesn’t hold him up. 

Dick flipped the open sign facing out to the street, and finally unlocked the doors after Luz’s prep time of thirty minutes and joined him behind the bar. Despite it being a regular old bar, lined with all types of alcohol, Dick kept a small section of the bar for coffee and things akin to making and serving a few simple styles of espresso drinks and regular cups of joe. Alcohol wasn’t his vice but he wondered sometimes if coffee was. Lip wandered in only a few moments after opening, smiling at them when he walked in, before dropping into his spot in front of Dick’s coffee corner, flipping through some emails on his phone. The two of them didn’t talk directly to each other but found out in the three months that Lip has been coming to the bar that they didn’t really need to. Luz joined them while he waited for more people to come in, enjoying a cup with them.

Soon enough Joe Toye waltzed in, bravdo strong, and dropped himself in a seat next to Lip. He wasn’t going to stay there long as more people filtered in he would mingle and mix. He would up talking to Lip sooner or later, because Lip always talked to everyone. He just did.

“How’s it going, Lip.” He waved his card at Luz, and had a beer dropped in front of him, and his card snatched from his fingers. “Hey, put Lip’s next one on mine.” Lip tried to wave it off only to get Luz and Toye telling him that wasn’t going to happen.

“Living the dream.” Lip shrugged. “A little stacked up with Christmas coming around, but it’s keeping me out of trouble.”

Toye smirked. “You? Trouble? Never could imagine.” He slapped Lip on the back with a hearty laugh before chugging half his glass. “One day, I’ll show you what proper trouble looks like.”

A few more patrons started to step into the bar. It wasn't in the easiest of places to find but it wasn’t hidden, just on the corner of Normandy Ave. and Omaha Dr., sitting in the basement of some apartment buildings slapped up in the seventies. The building that Easy Co. sat in Dick also owned. There were a few things that Easy Co. was that most did not know when they first stepped into the bar. One, it was a jazz and piano bar. Easy’s patrons were not going to find the latest and popularized music here. However rare, there were live jazz bands almost every weekend and a carefully curated vinyl selection mixed with a spotify playlist for the rest of the week. Two, it was a gay bar. It wasn’t in the typically block of the heavily populated and somewhat overcrowded queer clubs and bars of Boston, and many who have wandered in, knew none wiser until spotting the stuble rainbow displays that melded well with the decore or the back wall lined with framed moments in queer history. Most that were not of that persuasion enjoyed their drink, paid their tab, and never returned. Easy Co. has been fortunate to only have to forcefully remove one individual for hate and violent actions, Bull hired soon after the incident, and hasn’t had one since. 

Dick watched over his customers with ease, as he did most evenings, recognizing most of the faces. 

“Harry Welsh, how are you doing this fine evening?” Dick asked. The short curly haired man breaks out into a full grin, and shook Dick’s hand. 

“I’m doing just fine. Hey-” He paused to turn around and drag someone from around the corner, a friend Dick assumed. “I want you to meet my buddy here, Lewis Nixon. We work together.” Harry continued to talk about the most recent project they finished. Dick didn’t know much about banking and app development but he nodded at the right queues as he waited for Harry to get sidetracked by booze, which happened after only two minutes of explanation, a new high score for one Mister Harry Welsh. 

“Welcome, Mr. Nixon, to my humble bar.” Dick greeted after Harry dashed off. Lewis Nixon stood just a few inches shorter than Dick himself, standing in contrast with dark hair and notable brows, brown eyes returned his gaze. “Any friend of Harry is welcome here. Let me get your first drink.” Nixon quirked an eyebrow.

“Why thank you, sir. That is greatly appreciated.” He smirked, it seemed to want to break into a full smile, but was hesitant to do so. “I never caught your name. Mister?” Nixon extending his hand out.

“Dick Winters.”

The smile broke free of its chain and ran rampant on Nixon’s face, bright on the man’s face. Dick couldn’t not return it. 

“Nix!” Harry called from the bar. “They got Vat 69!”

Nixon drew his attention back to Dick and inclined his head towards his friends. They both shared a working knowledge of Harry Welsh, seeming to know what each other was thinking.  _ Good ol’ Harry. _ Dick led Nixon through the small crowd of people between the entrance and the bar and helped him get settled. He, unfortunately, was dragged away from Nixon and Harry’s company by other patrons and coffee requested Blithe, one of Dick’s other bartenders, had dropped in, sitting in Dick’s coffee corner with a book propped on the bar. 

“Hey, Blithe. The usual?” 

Blithe peaked just barely over his book and gave a closed off smile and tight nod. “Thanks.” It was quiet. That was Blithe. He handed off Blithe’s flat white then leaned against the counter behind him to survey the room. Luz was bouncing back and forth behind the bar, not in a rush of drinks but in a reenactment of sorts from what Dick could figure. Lip watched with bright eyes, laughing behind his hand trying not to reveal his interest as Toye, Johnny, and Guarere egged the bartender on exuberantly. Harry had an arm around a very uninterested Edward, Babe, no doubt talking in loving prose about his wife. Nixon was- Nixon was staring right at him, glass of, what Dick assumed to be the famed, Vat 69, that Harry had announced early in the night to them, held up as if he was about to take a sip. When they met gazes, Nixon winked and took a rather large gulp of his scotch whiskey. Dick’s mouth betrayed him and he smiled back at the man. Lewis Nixon. Richard Winters was in trouble.


End file.
